Inflammation of tendons and joints is characteristic of many common ailments such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and tendinitis. The symptoms are often painful and debilitating. There are many currently-accepted treatments for these ailments, including prescription and non-prescription nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), oral and injectable steroid compositions, chemotherapeutics such as methotrexate, and injectable gold solutions, to name only a few. While such treatments often can reduce the inflammation accompanying the ailment, they typically also provoke unpleasant or unacceptable side-effects.
Additionally, there are several marketed over-the-counter topical rubs which are capable of making the area lo of the skin or muscle feel hot or cold. Those rubs, however, while generally harmless in terms of unwanted side-effects, can provide only temporary topical relief and cannot relieve the inflammation which is the source of the patient's discomfort. Thus, there remains a great need for alternative methods of treating such disorders.